Oregon

In a quarterly forecast released in late May, the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis mentioned almost in passing an issue that could complicate the Pacific Northwest state’s recent track record of robust economic growth:

At least anecdotally, more firms are reporting trouble finding workers who can pass a drug test. Given the tight labor market, and legal recreational marijuana up and down the Left Coast, these reports are a bit surprising. It may be that the pool of available applicants has shifted; that individuals who can pass drug test already have a job. It may be for insurance‐related reasons that employers are ensuring they have a drug‐free workplace, even if it means monitoring their employees behavior on their own time. However it is possible that these anecdotal reports reflect a broader increase in drug usage that would be both an economic and societal problem.

Oregon’s unemployment rate is currently hovering at around 4.1 percent, the report notes, just above the historically low rate nationwide. With such a tight labor market overall, the need for employees who can pass a drug test could be putting some employers in a real bind. Although Oregon’s economists are writing from anecdotal evidence, this is a phenomenon we’ve seen in other parts of the country as well, with many employers rethinking their drug-free workplace policies in light of the labor crunch.

The campaign to crack down on variable or on-call scheduling is emerging as a central issue for labor activists in the US today, second only to the minimum wage. Oregon is currently on track to become the first state to introduce regulations obligating most employers to provide predictable schedules to their hourly employees. A bill mandating advance notice of scheduling passed the state Senate last year and is returning to the House for a final vote, the Statesman Journal reported this week:

The bill’s provisions would apply to retail, food service and hospitality employers with at least 500 workers worldwide. That’s up from 100 statewide in the original bill. Individually owned franchises would not be covered. If the bill passes, beginning July 1, 2018, those employers would have to provide workers with an estimated schedule seven days before the first day of that week’s work. That’s down from 14 days in the original bill. The advance notice requirement would increase to 14 days on July 1, 2020. Enforcement would begin Jan. 1, 2019.

The bill also requires employers to provide extra pay to workers who have fewer than 10 hours off between shifts, allows workers to turn down extra shifts, and allows employers to maintain standby list of employees who are willing to be called into work on short notice. And it prohibits cities and counties from setting their own scheduling regulations.